Channel Quality Indicator for Ofdm

1. A method comprising: a) receiving from a mobile terminal an indicator of a degree to which a channel response varies across sub-carriers over an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing frequency band; b) receiving from the mobile terminal an indicator of a carrier-to-interference ratio associated with the mobile terminal; c) determining a channel quality indicator based on both the indicator of the degree to which the channel response varies and the indicator of the carrier-to-interference ratio; and d) controlling transmission of information to the mobile terminal based on the channel quality indicator.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the channel quality indicator is a value determined at the mobile terminal, the value being a function of the degree to which the channel response varies across the sub-carriers over the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing frequency band and the carrier-to-interference ratio.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the channel quality indicator includes first information representing the degree to which the channel response varies across the sub-carriers over the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing frequency band and second information pertaining to the carrier-to-interference ratio, the method further comprising calculating a channel quality indicator value based on the first and second information such that transmission of information to the mobile terminal is a function of the channel quality indicator value.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein controlling transmission of information further comprises selecting a coding and modulation scheme for transmission of information to the mobile terminal and transmitting the information to the mobile terminal using the coding and modulation scheme.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein controlling transmission of information further comprises scheduling the transmission of information to the mobile terminal based on the channel quality indicator.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein controlling transmission of information further comprises scheduling the transmission of information to the mobile terminal based on the channel quality indicator.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the channel response is a measure of channel gains for a plurality of the sub-carriers.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the channel quality indicator bears on a standard deviation of the channel gains for the plurality of sub-carriers.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the channel quality indicator bears on a standard deviation of a logarithm of the channel gains for the plurality of sub-carriers.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the degree to which the channel response varies across sub-carriers over the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing frequency band is determined for a limited range of the sub-carriers within the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing band.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the limited range of sub-carriers is a range of sub-carriers only used for the transmission of information.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the indicator of the degree to which the channel response varies and the indicator of the carrier-to-interference ratio are received for multiple transmit and receive antennas.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the indicators received for the multiple transmit and receive antennas are combined to determine an aggregate channel quality indicator to be used for controlling transmission of information to the mobile terminal.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the indicators of the degree to which the channel response varies are combined by averaging the power of the channel frequency response across the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing frequency band and the indicators of the carrier-to-interference ratio are combined by summing.

15. A method comprising: a) monitoring channel conditions associated with a transmission received from a base station; b) determining a carrier-to-interference ratio associated with the transmission received from the base station; c) determining a channel quality indicator based on the channel conditions, the channel quality indicator bearing both on a degree to which a channel response varies across sub-carriers over an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing frequency band and on the carrier-to-interference ratio; and d) transmitting the channel quality indicator to the base station for controlling transmission of information from the base station.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the channel quality indicator is a value, which is a function of the degree to which the channel response varies across sub-carriers over an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing frequency band and the carrier-to-interference ratio.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the channel quality indicator includes first information representing the degree to which the channel response varies across the sub-carriers over the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing frequency band and second information pertaining to the carrier to interference ratio, such that the base station calculates a channel quality indicator value based on the first and second information and the transmission of information from the base station is a function of the channel quality indicator value.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the channel quality indicator dictates a coding and modulation scheme for the transmission of information from the base station.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the channel quality indicator is further used by the base station to schedule the transmission of information from the base station.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein the channel quality indicator is used by the base station to schedule the transmission of information from the base station.

21. The method of claim 15 wherein the channel response is a measure of channel gains for a plurality of the sub-carriers.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the channel quality indicator bears on a standard deviation of the channel gains for the plurality of sub-carriers.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the channel quality indicator bears on a standard deviation of a logarithm of the channel gains for the plurality of sub-carriers.

24. The method of claim 15 wherein the degree to which the channel response varies across the sub-carriers over the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing frequency band is determined for a limited range of the sub-carriers within the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing band.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the limited range of sub-carriers is a range of sub-carriers only used for the transmission of information.

26. A system comprising: a) receive circuitry adapted to receive from a mobile terminal a channel quality indicator bearing both on a degree to which a channel response varies across sub-carriers over an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing frequency band and on a carrier-to-interference ratio associated with the mobile terminal; and b) control circuitry associated with the receive circuitry and adapted to control transmission of information to the mobile terminal based on the channel quality indicator.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein the channel quality indicator is a value determined at the mobile terminal, the value being a function of the degree to which the channel response varies across the sub-carriers over the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing frequency band and the carrier to interference ratio.

28. The system of claim 26 wherein the channel quality indicator includes first information representing the degree to which the channel response varies across the sub-carriers over the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing frequency band and second information pertaining to the carrier-to-interference ratio, the system further comprising calculating a channel quality indicator value based on the first and second information such that transmission of information to the mobile terminal is a function of the channel quality indicator value.

29. The system of claim 26 wherein to control transmission of information the control system is further adapted to select a coding and modulation scheme for transmission of information to the mobile terminal and further comprising transmission circuit adapted to transmit the information to the mobile terminal using the coding and modulation scheme.

30. The system of claim 29 wherein to control transmission of information the control system is further adapted to schedule the transmission of information to the mobile terminal based on the channel quality indicator.

31. The system of claim 26 wherein to control transmission of information the control system is further adapted to schedule the transmission of information to the mobile terminal based on the channel quality indicator.

32. The system of claim 26 wherein the channel response is a measure of channel gains for a plurality of the sub-carriers.

33. The system of claim 32 wherein the channel quality indicator bears on a standard deviation of the channel gains for the plurality of sub-carriers.

34. The system of claim 33 wherein the channel quality indicator bears on a standard deviation of a logarithm of the channel gains for the plurality of sub-carriers.

35. The system of claim 26 wherein the degree to which the channel response varies across the sub-carriers over the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing frequency band is determined for a limited range of sub-carriers within the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing band.

36. The system of claim 35 wherein the limited range of sub-carriers is a range of sub-carriers only used for the transmission of information.

37. A system comprising: a) receive circuitry adapted to monitor channel conditions associated with a transmission received from a base station; b) a control system associated with the receive circuitry and adapted to: i) determine a carrier-to-interference ratio associated with the transmissions received from the base station; and ii) determine a channel quality indicator based on the channel conditions, the channel quality indicator bearing both on a degree to which a channel response varies across sub-carriers over an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing frequency band and on the carrier-to-interference ratio; and c) transmission circuitry associated with the control system and adapted to transmit the channel quality indicator to the base station for controlling transmission of information from the base station.

38. The system of claim 37 wherein the channel quality indicator is a value, which is a function of the degree to which the channel response varies across the sub-carriers over the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing frequency band and the carrier-to-interference ratio.

39. The system of claim 37 wherein the channel quality indicator includes first information representing the degree to which the channel response varies across the sub-carriers over the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing frequency band and second information pertaining to the carrier-to-interference ratio, such that the base station calculates a channel quality indicator value based on the first and second information and the transmission of information from the base station is a function of the channel quality indicator value.

40. The system of claim 37 wherein the channel quality indicator dictates a coding and modulation scheme for the transmission of information from the base station.

41. The system of claim 40 wherein the channel quality indicator is further used by the base station to schedule the transmission of information from the base station.

42. The system of claim 37 wherein the channel quality indicator is used by the base station to schedule the transmission of information from the base station.

43. The system of claim 37 wherein the channel response is a measure of channel gains for a plurality of the sub-carriers.

44. The system of claim 43 wherein the channel quality indicator bears on a standard deviation of the channel gains for the plurality of sub-carriers.

45. The system of claim 44 wherein the channel quality indicator bears on a standard deviation of a logarithm of the channel gains for the plurality of sub-carriers.

46. The system of claim 37 wherein the degree to which the channel response varies across the sub-carriers over the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing frequency band is determined for a limited range of sub-carriers within the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing band.

47. The system of claim 46 wherein the limited range of sub-carriers is a range of sub-carriers only used for the transmission of information.